Tracking a string of N.S. tool thefts: Facebook posts lead police to stolen gear

Police used a phone tracker and Facebook to follow an alleged Halifax tool thief now charged with stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of gear and selling it online.

Daniel Doucette contacted police July 19, 2023, after someone smashed out the back windows of his work van and stole about $11,000 worth of tools. He works for First on Site Restoration and the van was parked on Gurholt Drive in Dartmouth.

“Doucette believes his tools were listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace under the profile ‘Ashley Lou,’” Det.-Const. David Harding of Halifax Regional Police said in a warrant application.

The detective checked out Ashley Lou’s profile, noting she had numerous tools for sale.

Ashley Lou & Jesse Bear

“I also noted that ‘Ashley Lou’ was listed as being in a relationship with Facebook profile name ‘Jesse Bear.’”

He was able to determine that Ashley Lou is Ashley Rogerson’s account, and Jesse Bear belongs to Jesse Truen.

Someone cut a hole cut in a chain link fence at Olympus Properties Management on Crane Lake Drive in the Bayers Lake area Aug. 9 to get inside a secure compound. They smashed out the windows in four vehicles to steal the tools inside.

When police met with co-owner Seymour Trihopoylos, he told them some of the stolen tools were up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The vendor was Ashley Lou.

Camo ball cap

Surveillance video from the break-in shows a white man wearing a burgundy T-shirt with a large logo on the front and a camouflage ball cap. “A female was also seen on video standing outside of the fenced area near the roadway,” Harding wrote in information to obtain a warrant filed at Halifax provincial court.

A photo added to Rogerson’s Facebook profile on Aug. 14, 2023, of her with her beau showed Truen wearing the same shirt and hat, said the detective.

When a thief broke into six work trucks and a trailer at Belfor Property Restoration on Raddall Avenue on Aug. 29, 2023 at 2:45 a.m. he stole thousands of dollars’ worth of tools. He was captured on surveillance video wearing a burgundy Carhartt hooded sweatshirt, blue pants, a camo ball cap, dark boots and blue latex gloves. The getaway car was a white Mazda Tribute sport utility vehicle with tinted rear windows, a sunroof and silver rims.

The detective noted that someone had thrown a rock through the driver’s side window of a work van at Fastening House Atlantic on Moore Drive on Aug. 27, 2023, leaving a blue latex glove behind. The masked culprit, captured on surveillance video, was wearing a burgundy hoodie, a camo ball cap, and a single blue latex glove.

Harding checked a police database to find similar break-ins at Brunswick Lift Rentals on Wright Avenue on Aug. 27, 2023, the day previous at Patterson Hill Landscaping on Fielding Avenue, Aug. 21, 2023, at Fix Auto on Joseph Zatzman Drive, and from a work vehicle parked on Fielding Avenue the same night.

Conducted surveillance 

The detective conducted surveillance of his suspects’ home on Fiske Street in Fairview, noting the White Mazda Tribute in the driveway.

When he ran Truen’s name through a police database, Harding learned Truen was on probation, and got the mobile phone number he’d given his probation officer.

The detective got a tracking warrant so he could follow the phone, which was equipped with a global positioning system.

“From Aug. 31, 2023, until Sept. 11, 2023, there have been numerous break and enters in the Burnside Industrial Park matching the same modus operandi as Jessie Truen,” Harding said.

The detective had been following the phone Truen told his parole supervisor he was using, but it wasn’t active at any areas where there had been break-ins, he said, noting he believed the phone belonged to Rogerson.

Dinner out 

The detective checked her Facebook, noting Rogerson posted she’d gone to The Bicycle Thief for dinner Sept. 12, 2023, and that the phone he was tracking was pinging in the area of the high-end Lower Water Street restaurant that night.

The next night, the detective followed the phone as it pinged in the area of Market Drive and Park Road in Enfield at about 1:18 a.m., then returned to Fairview just after 5 a.m.

Harding spoke with an Enfield Mountie, who told him he was investigating break-ins that occurred that night at a construction site on Park Road, where someone stole a new bag of Craftsman tools, and at numerous trailers and containers on Enterprise Way, where a thief had dug a trench under the security fence.

The suspect, caught on video, was a white masked man with long hair, who was wearing a camo ball cap and a plaid shirt. A video Rogerson posted on Facebook the same day shows Truen wearing the same clothing.

‘Never used’

Rogerson had an active Facebook Marketplace listing that day for Craftsman tools including an impact driver, a hammerdrill, a jigsaw, an oscillating tool, an orbital sander, and a circular saw.

She was asking for $300 for the “never used” tools, batteries and a charger, or the best offer.

“I believe that Jessie Truen is responsible for numerous break and enters and theft of tools and that he will continue the commission of similar offences,” said the detective.

He convinced a justice of the peace to grant a search warrant for the Fiske Street home where Truen and Rogerson live. Police seized a long list of tools there during a Sept. 13, 2023, search.

Charges laid 

Jesse Wayne Truen, 34, is slated to appear in Halifax provincial court Jan. 30, to answer to charges with offence dates between Aug. 27, 2023, and Sept. 13, 2023. Those include two counts of break and enter with intent; eight counts of break and enter; 14 counts of mischief; five counts of interfering with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; three counts of theft under $5,000; four counts of trafficking property obtained by crime; and seven counts of possession of stolen goods valued at under $5,000.

Ashley Loise Rogerson, 39, is scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court Jan. 30 on four counts of possession of stolen goods under $5,000. The offence dates on those charges range from Aug. 2-Aug. 27, 2023.

A Dartmouth provincial court judge sentenced Truen on 13 charges in August of 2020 for offences related to child pornography, firearms, and theft.